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J: ITT A ' vAI-.- Y .-.-
7.
-- -";
73rd Year No. 303 Good Morning! It's Wednesday, September 9, 1981 9 Sections 72 Pages 25 Cents
" .
Future lawyers
may be taking
legal ethics exam
State test geared to improve
public's image of attorneys
ByJeffTruesddl
Missourian staff writer
Law students in Missouri soon may face an fHfTfreial
hurdle in their attempts to gain admission to the state
bar.
The Missouri Board of Law Examiners last week re-ceived
approval from the state Supreme Court to finalize
the rules and conditions of an ethics test that probably
will become a requirement for admission to the state bar
as early as January 1S63.
The test is a 5G- questi- on, multiple choice exam de-signed
in part to upgrade public opinion of the law pro-fession
and is already required in 19 states. Based upon
the American Bar Association's codes of professional re-sponsibility
and judicial conduct, the test will be admin-istered
separately from the regular bar m The test
will differ from the bar's in that students wfll be able to
take the test while still in schooL
The test is not designed to weed out unethical lawyers,
Insight
D. Pierre Dominique, president of the Missouri Board of
Law Examiners, said. Instead, the exam win ensure that
individuals admitted to the bar have a dear understand-ing
of the codes of professional conduct mat govern the
legal profession, he said.
Law students wfll take the test in March, August and
November 1982, Dominique said. Law students who will
be seniors next faU likely will be required to pass the test
before taking the state bar examination.
The Missouri bar exam now mrlndes only one essay
question covering ethics, University law professor
James Devine said. Devine is one of two professors who
teach an ethics course to University law students. He
said the bar exam quizzes students on a few ethical is-sues.
" Missouri has required, by statute or court rule, that
those admitted to the Missouri bar be tested in ethics
since the turn of the century, so it's nothing new," he
said. i Devine said be was unsure what prompted the ethics
test, but said that concern over the profession's public
image was probably a factor.
" The public has a perception that the organized bar
smipfrdtaisstwmyaliHhrctttetf tteraetn& sw'
Devine said. " That's not true."
He said the bar, " more Ann any other organisation,"
works to ensure that its members adhere to a code of
proper conduct. Punishment for improper conduct may
range from reprimand to expulsion from the bar, Devine
said.
University law professor Joe Covington said, " There
( SeeTEST, P. 16A)
xSiEHH9BB98L9wGB8iSiBv9HflsOVSB9rfC3ti a sbL9HiS& h? HF SBWs BBHem
HKVH0wflfl9IHnHHIBnfiXHBHSPHHiBHnBSIBHflHBHlflRHBflHHflKIH
. f) n the lam .
Toby, a parakeet owned to Mrs. P. A. McCuily, 909 Hope Place, staged an
escape Saturday morning, and chose not to return home despite coaxing
by Peggy Larson, Route 4, Erik Larson and Herb Jacobus, 215 Northwest
Blvd. Mrs. McCuliy often let Toby out of the cage to fly around the house,
but the bird flew the coop when relatives came to call. Toby is still at
large.
Residents sway
budget voting
Columbians who packed the City
Council chambers Tuesday night
had an impact, prompting the coun-cil
to pass a new, $ 15.6 million bud-get
that kills proposals to widen Wi-lliam
and Ash streets and provides
continued funding for most city- support- ed
social service programs.
The council budget also deletes
$ 51,050 that had been earmarked for
converting Wabash Station to a visi-tor
center. The Convention and Visi-tors
Advisory Board had recom-mended
for the funding, while the
Columbia Lodging Association, com-prised
of motel and hotel owners and
managers, wanted the funding
dropped.
An anticipated flap over City Man-ager
Richard Gray's proposal to
spend some of the city's $ 3.2 million
surplus failed to develop. Former
councilman Holme Hickman had run
advertisements in local media crit-icizing
additions Gray had made to
the budget, but the matter drew only
minor attention.
Nearly 200 people jammed the
chamber, most to protest proposals
that would decrease the funding for
the Abuse, Assault and Rape Crisis
Center and widen William Street be-tween
Broadway and Windsor
streets.
The Abuse, Assault and Rape Cri-sis
Center made the most organized
pitch of several social service
groups seeking council support. The
council responded by juggling $ 11,- 00- 0
in holdover funds from fiscal 1981
to increase funding for the center be-yond
that recommended. The coun-cil
appropriated $ 16,500 for the ce-nterthe
same it received this year.
Dawn Van Beek, chair of the crisis
center board, told the council that
the agency could not continue oper-ating
with the $ 8,000 originally al-lotted.
Center Director Lynn Baumhoff
said that, if the center received no
more money, it would close by the
end of November.
" AARCC is not crying wolf," Ms.
Van Beek said.
She asked the crowd for a show of
support prior to the vote, and nearly
half the audience stood up.
Missouri Student Association
President Gail Snider told the coun-cil
to look at the crisis center as a
public service, like the police and
fire departments. " You should look
at it as protection for the city you
represent," she said.
Funding for other social services
includes:
$ 15,000 for Everyday People, a
walk- i- n counseling service.
$ 17,375 each for the Family
Counseling Center and Family Serv-ice
of Columbia.
f $ 20,200 for the Meals On Wheels
program.
$ 15,000 for Front Doer Counsel- -
( See SOCIAL, P. 16A)
Deposit petitions go
before council today
Although petitions for a repeal of
the container deposit law arrived at
City Council in time, the council did
not reach the item in time.
The council did not take up the
item during its lengthy meeting
midnight Tuesday. Councilmen will
finish their agenda in another meet-ing
today at 5 pjn.
City Clerk Pat Scott completed the
validating process that opens the
door for a atywide vote to repeal the
ordinance, passed by the city's vot-ers
in April 1977. The ordinance man-- j
dates a deposit on all carbonated
beverage bottles and cans.
The petition action to force a new
vote was organized by local bever-age
dealers. The local dealers collec-ted
3,867 signatures, well over the re-quired
2,103. Ms . Scott verified that a
sufficient number of signatures was
legitimate to force a November elec-tion
on whether to repeal the ordi-nance.
In other matters, the council voted
to raise fringe benefits for city em-ployees,
boost recreation fees at city
parks, and increase fees for garbage
collection and water line connection.
Round two continues budget cut countdown
New York Time
WASHINGTON President Reagan Tues-day
authorized another $ 10 billion to $ 15 bil-lion
in budget cuts for next year in what a
White House official described as a " hard-line"
effort to preserve his goal of a $ 45 bil-lion
deficit in fiscal 1982.
Another administration source said about
$ 3 billion of the additional cuts are likely to
come from defense spending and the rest
from domestic programs that were already
sharply reduced in the first round of budget
cute last spring and summer.
In addition, Reagan is leaning toward re-solving
the dispute between Defense Secre-tary
Caspar W. Weinberger and budget di
rector David A. Stockman by authorizing
further reductions in defense spending of
about $ 11 billion in fiscal 1983 and $ 16 billion
in 1964, administration officials said. They
stressed, however, that these were rough fig-ures
and that no final decision would be
made before Weinberger has a chance to ar-gue
against such reductions today in a meet-ing
wall Reagan and Stockman.
Reagan approved the additional budget
cuts Tuesday morning in a 75- min- ute White
House meeting that represented a political
and economic crossroads for the administra-tion.
Tuesday, in his first full day of high- lev- el
meetings since he returned to the Capital
last Thursday, Reagan's top economic advis
ers told him that high interest rates, the cost
pressures of such programs as Social Securi-ty
and Medicaid, and the continuing lack of
confidence on Wall Street threaten both bis
1982 deficit target and his long- rang- e goal of
a balanced budget in, 1964.
The bad news came the day before Con-gress,
which includes strong factions op-posed
to further cuts in either defense or so-da!
programs, returned from its summer
recess. But, according to a participant in
Tuesday's meeting, Reagan did not hesitate
when told by Stockman that another $ 10 bil-lion
to $ 15 bQlion in cuts would be needed in
the fiscal 1982 appropriation bills now mak-ing
their way through congressional subcom-mittees.
Reagan met Tuesday afternoon with Sen.
Howard H. Baker Jr. of Tennessee, the ma-jority
leader, and Rep. Robert Michel of Illi-nois,
the House Republican leader,
" More cuts have to be made, and well be
able to make them," Baker said after the
meeting. Michel suggested the cuts could be
achieved with an across- the- boa- rd cut of 10
percent in the $ 175 billion of the 1982 budget
that is not tied up in entitlement programs
such as Social Security, government pen-sions
and interest on the national debt.
One strategy under discussion at the White
House for forcing the new reductions
through Congress is to introduce an " omni-bus"
appropriations act as a substitute for
the 13 separate appropriations bills now
awaiting congressional action.
Upon bearing reports that the deficit esti-mate
was increasing, " the president's hard-line
recommendation was to find more cuts
and bring it back down," said a participant
in the meeting.
" What we're looking at is unexpected high
interest, the failure of Congress to pass any
decrease in Social Security, overruns in enti-tlements
tike the Medicaid cap and nutrition
programs," the official said in recalling the
economic report given the president Tues-day.
Also, a bumper wheat crop has forced
the government to make unexpectedly high
payments to farmers to make up for the de-pressed
market price of wheat, Reagan was
told.
Index
Qsfrifird ........... 1S- 15- B
Sp0rt8....... ll13A
Weather ....,.... .. 2A
Inside
today
Scientists
transfer genes
Researchers at Ohio Univer-sity
successfully transferred
genes from rabbits to mice.
The revolutionary process
could lead to methods of cor-recting
inherited human de-fects,
scientists say. See story,
Page 9A.
Alcolh! hard
on women
Women have a lower toler-ance
for alcohol than men, a
recent medical report says,
and women who try to conv
. pete with men drink for drink .
may be harming themselves.
Sea story, Page SA.
Watt decision called improper
New York Times
WASHINGTON Interior Secre-tary
James G. Watt acted without le-gal
authority when he reluctantly
j complied June 1 with a House Interi- o- r
Committee's directive that he ban
oil and gas leasing in a Montana wil-derness
area, the Justice Depart-ment
said m cotirt papers fued Tues-day.
H tins position is accepted by the
courts, Watt, who favors increased
mineral leasing on federal lands,
would be free to disregard the com-mittee's
action and to consider hun-dreds
of pending applications for oil
and gas leases in the LSniHion- ocr- e
I ( eoO. GOWbectare) Bob Marshall Wil--
I derness Complex.
The department also argued, how-ever,
that lawsuits brought by two
groups seeking to open the wilder-ness
area to oil and gas leasing
should be dismissed en jurisdictional
grounds without determining the le-gality
of the actions by the commit-tee
and Watt.
The Justice Department is rep-resenting
Watt, a defendant in the
two consolidated cases pending in
the Federal District Court in Bil-lings,
Moot
In another development, environ-mental
groups that intervened in the
cases have formally served Watt and
other parties with written questions
and requests for documents and oth-er
evidence of any " meeting, confer-ence
or telephone conversation" be
tween the Interior secretary or his
agents and the two conservative le-gal
groups suing him. ,-
-'
Lawyers for the Wilderness Socie-ty,
the Bob Marshall Coalition and
the Sierra Club told Judge William J.
Jameson last month that they would
seek to prove the lawsuits were the
product of improper " collusion" be-tween
Watt, the Mountain States Le-gal
Foundation and the Pacific Legal
Foundation. Both legal foundations
filed suit against Watt within three
days after his decision to comply
with the House committee's direc-tive.
Both foundations are nonprofit
law firms that represent business in-terests
seeking increased mineral
development on federal lands.
O'Connor hearings begin witli praise
I New York Times
3 WASHINGTON Judge Sandra
Day O'Cosmor " has the professional
qualifications required of an Asso-ciate
Justice of the Supreme Court of
the United States" despite a relative
lack of " extensive or challenging"
Judicial experience, a committee of
the American Bar Association told
the Senate Judiciary Committee
Tuesday.
The bar ascodatton's standing
committee on the federal judiciary
submitted its appraisal, which was
solicited by the judiciary committee,
on the eve of Judge O'Connor's con-firmation
hearings. The judiciary
committee will conduct three days of
hearings beginning today, and tsex--
pected to recommend the 51- year-- old
Arizona judge be confirmed to the
Supreme Court seat vacated two
months ago by Associate Justice
Potter Stewart.
The bar association committee ex-amined
three aspects of Judge
O'Connor's professional qualifica-tions:
judicial temperament, integri-ty,
and '' professional competence."
On the basis of interviews with
lawyers, judges, law school profes-sors
and deans, Arizona legislators,
and Judge O'Connor herself, the 14- mem- ber
committee concluded unan-imously
that the nominee " meets the
highest standards of judicial temper-ament
and integrity." .
The committee's appraisal of
Judge O'Connor's " professional
competence" was less enthusiastic.
" Her professional experience to
date," the committee's report noted
of Judge O'Connor's six years on the
Arizona state bench, " has not been
as extensive or challenging as that of
some other persons who might be
available for appointment to the Su-preme
Court of the United States."
The bar committee submitted
Judge O'Connor's judicial opinions
and published articles to a group of
eacticing lawyers and two groups of
w school professors.
" Those consulted expressed differ-ing
views concerning the strength of
her opinion writing," the report said,
adding that, because the cases in--
( See O'CONNOR'S, P. ISA)
Source of surplus
remains unknown
By David Bender
MIssoarian staff writer
Former Boone County Magis-trate
Court Judge Temple Mor- ge- tt
cannot figure out why county
administrators are worried about
an extra $ 17,000 and some four- year- o- ld
receipts.
Both County Auditor Deborah
Robison and Ken Geel, former
county auditor, had said they
were unable to determine the rea-son
for the surplus or audit Mor- gett- ' s
old books because records
weren't properly kept.
And tire auditors were right,
according to a Kansas City, Mo.,
auditing firm. Bob Spence, of
Peat, Marwick and Mitchell Co.,
told a County Court meeting
Tuesday the audit cant be fin-ished
because Morgett's 1977 re-ceipt
bocks are missing, along
with some 1978 receipts. Without
them, the source of the money
may remain a mystery.
" I really don't understand what
they're so shook up about," Mor-gett
said, adding that, " as far as I
know," the records were intact
when be left office.
He said the " overage" of mon-ey
indicates that none was mis-used.
He agreed, though, mat the
missing receipts might show that
more money should remain.
Morgett lost his re- electi- on bid
in 1978, and state law requires an
audit of outgoing officeholders.
His position was abolished in 1979
when the Circuit Court system
absorbed magistrate courts.
The receipts in question, which
recorded fees and bonds paid to
Morgett's court, apparently were
lost when records were shuffled
during remodeling of Boone
County Courthouse more than a
year ago, Morgett said.
Georganne Lanham, Morgett's
former chief clerk, said card-board
boxes of receipt books were
apparently mishandled then.
Early in 1979, after she had left
her post, she said she saw the
boxes " just strewn around, like
they had been accidentally 1
knocked over," while workmen I
finished the renovations. J
Because the receipt books are 1
missing, the complete audit re-- I
quired by law is virtually impos- - I
sible, Spence said. 1
Consequently, the county may j
never know where the $ 17,000 be-- I
longs, Southern District Judge 8
Kay Roberts said. The court B
agreed to ask the County Pros-ecutor
for a legal opinion of the
court's liability if someone should
claim the money.
" We want to know that we are
not responsible in any way, shape
or form," Roberts said. I

J: ITT A ' vAI-.- Y .-.-
7.
-- -";
73rd Year No. 303 Good Morning! It's Wednesday, September 9, 1981 9 Sections 72 Pages 25 Cents
" .
Future lawyers
may be taking
legal ethics exam
State test geared to improve
public's image of attorneys
ByJeffTruesddl
Missourian staff writer
Law students in Missouri soon may face an fHfTfreial
hurdle in their attempts to gain admission to the state
bar.
The Missouri Board of Law Examiners last week re-ceived
approval from the state Supreme Court to finalize
the rules and conditions of an ethics test that probably
will become a requirement for admission to the state bar
as early as January 1S63.
The test is a 5G- questi- on, multiple choice exam de-signed
in part to upgrade public opinion of the law pro-fession
and is already required in 19 states. Based upon
the American Bar Association's codes of professional re-sponsibility
and judicial conduct, the test will be admin-istered
separately from the regular bar m The test
will differ from the bar's in that students wfll be able to
take the test while still in schooL
The test is not designed to weed out unethical lawyers,
Insight
D. Pierre Dominique, president of the Missouri Board of
Law Examiners, said. Instead, the exam win ensure that
individuals admitted to the bar have a dear understand-ing
of the codes of professional conduct mat govern the
legal profession, he said.
Law students wfll take the test in March, August and
November 1982, Dominique said. Law students who will
be seniors next faU likely will be required to pass the test
before taking the state bar examination.
The Missouri bar exam now mrlndes only one essay
question covering ethics, University law professor
James Devine said. Devine is one of two professors who
teach an ethics course to University law students. He
said the bar exam quizzes students on a few ethical is-sues.
" Missouri has required, by statute or court rule, that
those admitted to the Missouri bar be tested in ethics
since the turn of the century, so it's nothing new," he
said. i Devine said be was unsure what prompted the ethics
test, but said that concern over the profession's public
image was probably a factor.
" The public has a perception that the organized bar
smipfrdtaisstwmyaliHhrctttetf tteraetn& sw'
Devine said. " That's not true."
He said the bar, " more Ann any other organisation,"
works to ensure that its members adhere to a code of
proper conduct. Punishment for improper conduct may
range from reprimand to expulsion from the bar, Devine
said.
University law professor Joe Covington said, " There
( SeeTEST, P. 16A)
xSiEHH9BB98L9wGB8iSiBv9HflsOVSB9rfC3ti a sbL9HiS& h? HF SBWs BBHem
HKVH0wflfl9IHnHHIBnfiXHBHSPHHiBHnBSIBHflHBHlflRHBflHHflKIH
. f) n the lam .
Toby, a parakeet owned to Mrs. P. A. McCuily, 909 Hope Place, staged an
escape Saturday morning, and chose not to return home despite coaxing
by Peggy Larson, Route 4, Erik Larson and Herb Jacobus, 215 Northwest
Blvd. Mrs. McCuliy often let Toby out of the cage to fly around the house,
but the bird flew the coop when relatives came to call. Toby is still at
large.
Residents sway
budget voting
Columbians who packed the City
Council chambers Tuesday night
had an impact, prompting the coun-cil
to pass a new, $ 15.6 million bud-get
that kills proposals to widen Wi-lliam
and Ash streets and provides
continued funding for most city- support- ed
social service programs.
The council budget also deletes
$ 51,050 that had been earmarked for
converting Wabash Station to a visi-tor
center. The Convention and Visi-tors
Advisory Board had recom-mended
for the funding, while the
Columbia Lodging Association, com-prised
of motel and hotel owners and
managers, wanted the funding
dropped.
An anticipated flap over City Man-ager
Richard Gray's proposal to
spend some of the city's $ 3.2 million
surplus failed to develop. Former
councilman Holme Hickman had run
advertisements in local media crit-icizing
additions Gray had made to
the budget, but the matter drew only
minor attention.
Nearly 200 people jammed the
chamber, most to protest proposals
that would decrease the funding for
the Abuse, Assault and Rape Crisis
Center and widen William Street be-tween
Broadway and Windsor
streets.
The Abuse, Assault and Rape Cri-sis
Center made the most organized
pitch of several social service
groups seeking council support. The
council responded by juggling $ 11,- 00- 0
in holdover funds from fiscal 1981
to increase funding for the center be-yond
that recommended. The coun-cil
appropriated $ 16,500 for the ce-nterthe
same it received this year.
Dawn Van Beek, chair of the crisis
center board, told the council that
the agency could not continue oper-ating
with the $ 8,000 originally al-lotted.
Center Director Lynn Baumhoff
said that, if the center received no
more money, it would close by the
end of November.
" AARCC is not crying wolf," Ms.
Van Beek said.
She asked the crowd for a show of
support prior to the vote, and nearly
half the audience stood up.
Missouri Student Association
President Gail Snider told the coun-cil
to look at the crisis center as a
public service, like the police and
fire departments. " You should look
at it as protection for the city you
represent," she said.
Funding for other social services
includes:
$ 15,000 for Everyday People, a
walk- i- n counseling service.
$ 17,375 each for the Family
Counseling Center and Family Serv-ice
of Columbia.
f $ 20,200 for the Meals On Wheels
program.
$ 15,000 for Front Doer Counsel- -
( See SOCIAL, P. 16A)
Deposit petitions go
before council today
Although petitions for a repeal of
the container deposit law arrived at
City Council in time, the council did
not reach the item in time.
The council did not take up the
item during its lengthy meeting
midnight Tuesday. Councilmen will
finish their agenda in another meet-ing
today at 5 pjn.
City Clerk Pat Scott completed the
validating process that opens the
door for a atywide vote to repeal the
ordinance, passed by the city's vot-ers
in April 1977. The ordinance man-- j
dates a deposit on all carbonated
beverage bottles and cans.
The petition action to force a new
vote was organized by local bever-age
dealers. The local dealers collec-ted
3,867 signatures, well over the re-quired
2,103. Ms . Scott verified that a
sufficient number of signatures was
legitimate to force a November elec-tion
on whether to repeal the ordi-nance.
In other matters, the council voted
to raise fringe benefits for city em-ployees,
boost recreation fees at city
parks, and increase fees for garbage
collection and water line connection.
Round two continues budget cut countdown
New York Time
WASHINGTON President Reagan Tues-day
authorized another $ 10 billion to $ 15 bil-lion
in budget cuts for next year in what a
White House official described as a " hard-line"
effort to preserve his goal of a $ 45 bil-lion
deficit in fiscal 1982.
Another administration source said about
$ 3 billion of the additional cuts are likely to
come from defense spending and the rest
from domestic programs that were already
sharply reduced in the first round of budget
cute last spring and summer.
In addition, Reagan is leaning toward re-solving
the dispute between Defense Secre-tary
Caspar W. Weinberger and budget di
rector David A. Stockman by authorizing
further reductions in defense spending of
about $ 11 billion in fiscal 1983 and $ 16 billion
in 1964, administration officials said. They
stressed, however, that these were rough fig-ures
and that no final decision would be
made before Weinberger has a chance to ar-gue
against such reductions today in a meet-ing
wall Reagan and Stockman.
Reagan approved the additional budget
cuts Tuesday morning in a 75- min- ute White
House meeting that represented a political
and economic crossroads for the administra-tion.
Tuesday, in his first full day of high- lev- el
meetings since he returned to the Capital
last Thursday, Reagan's top economic advis
ers told him that high interest rates, the cost
pressures of such programs as Social Securi-ty
and Medicaid, and the continuing lack of
confidence on Wall Street threaten both bis
1982 deficit target and his long- rang- e goal of
a balanced budget in, 1964.
The bad news came the day before Con-gress,
which includes strong factions op-posed
to further cuts in either defense or so-da!
programs, returned from its summer
recess. But, according to a participant in
Tuesday's meeting, Reagan did not hesitate
when told by Stockman that another $ 10 bil-lion
to $ 15 bQlion in cuts would be needed in
the fiscal 1982 appropriation bills now mak-ing
their way through congressional subcom-mittees.
Reagan met Tuesday afternoon with Sen.
Howard H. Baker Jr. of Tennessee, the ma-jority
leader, and Rep. Robert Michel of Illi-nois,
the House Republican leader,
" More cuts have to be made, and well be
able to make them," Baker said after the
meeting. Michel suggested the cuts could be
achieved with an across- the- boa- rd cut of 10
percent in the $ 175 billion of the 1982 budget
that is not tied up in entitlement programs
such as Social Security, government pen-sions
and interest on the national debt.
One strategy under discussion at the White
House for forcing the new reductions
through Congress is to introduce an " omni-bus"
appropriations act as a substitute for
the 13 separate appropriations bills now
awaiting congressional action.
Upon bearing reports that the deficit esti-mate
was increasing, " the president's hard-line
recommendation was to find more cuts
and bring it back down," said a participant
in the meeting.
" What we're looking at is unexpected high
interest, the failure of Congress to pass any
decrease in Social Security, overruns in enti-tlements
tike the Medicaid cap and nutrition
programs," the official said in recalling the
economic report given the president Tues-day.
Also, a bumper wheat crop has forced
the government to make unexpectedly high
payments to farmers to make up for the de-pressed
market price of wheat, Reagan was
told.
Index
Qsfrifird ........... 1S- 15- B
Sp0rt8....... ll13A
Weather ....,.... .. 2A
Inside
today
Scientists
transfer genes
Researchers at Ohio Univer-sity
successfully transferred
genes from rabbits to mice.
The revolutionary process
could lead to methods of cor-recting
inherited human de-fects,
scientists say. See story,
Page 9A.
Alcolh! hard
on women
Women have a lower toler-ance
for alcohol than men, a
recent medical report says,
and women who try to conv
. pete with men drink for drink .
may be harming themselves.
Sea story, Page SA.
Watt decision called improper
New York Times
WASHINGTON Interior Secre-tary
James G. Watt acted without le-gal
authority when he reluctantly
j complied June 1 with a House Interi- o- r
Committee's directive that he ban
oil and gas leasing in a Montana wil-derness
area, the Justice Depart-ment
said m cotirt papers fued Tues-day.
H tins position is accepted by the
courts, Watt, who favors increased
mineral leasing on federal lands,
would be free to disregard the com-mittee's
action and to consider hun-dreds
of pending applications for oil
and gas leases in the LSniHion- ocr- e
I ( eoO. GOWbectare) Bob Marshall Wil--
I derness Complex.
The department also argued, how-ever,
that lawsuits brought by two
groups seeking to open the wilder-ness
area to oil and gas leasing
should be dismissed en jurisdictional
grounds without determining the le-gality
of the actions by the commit-tee
and Watt.
The Justice Department is rep-resenting
Watt, a defendant in the
two consolidated cases pending in
the Federal District Court in Bil-lings,
Moot
In another development, environ-mental
groups that intervened in the
cases have formally served Watt and
other parties with written questions
and requests for documents and oth-er
evidence of any " meeting, confer-ence
or telephone conversation" be
tween the Interior secretary or his
agents and the two conservative le-gal
groups suing him. ,-
-'
Lawyers for the Wilderness Socie-ty,
the Bob Marshall Coalition and
the Sierra Club told Judge William J.
Jameson last month that they would
seek to prove the lawsuits were the
product of improper " collusion" be-tween
Watt, the Mountain States Le-gal
Foundation and the Pacific Legal
Foundation. Both legal foundations
filed suit against Watt within three
days after his decision to comply
with the House committee's direc-tive.
Both foundations are nonprofit
law firms that represent business in-terests
seeking increased mineral
development on federal lands.
O'Connor hearings begin witli praise
I New York Times
3 WASHINGTON Judge Sandra
Day O'Cosmor " has the professional
qualifications required of an Asso-ciate
Justice of the Supreme Court of
the United States" despite a relative
lack of " extensive or challenging"
Judicial experience, a committee of
the American Bar Association told
the Senate Judiciary Committee
Tuesday.
The bar ascodatton's standing
committee on the federal judiciary
submitted its appraisal, which was
solicited by the judiciary committee,
on the eve of Judge O'Connor's con-firmation
hearings. The judiciary
committee will conduct three days of
hearings beginning today, and tsex--
pected to recommend the 51- year-- old
Arizona judge be confirmed to the
Supreme Court seat vacated two
months ago by Associate Justice
Potter Stewart.
The bar association committee ex-amined
three aspects of Judge
O'Connor's professional qualifica-tions:
judicial temperament, integri-ty,
and '' professional competence."
On the basis of interviews with
lawyers, judges, law school profes-sors
and deans, Arizona legislators,
and Judge O'Connor herself, the 14- mem- ber
committee concluded unan-imously
that the nominee " meets the
highest standards of judicial temper-ament
and integrity." .
The committee's appraisal of
Judge O'Connor's " professional
competence" was less enthusiastic.
" Her professional experience to
date," the committee's report noted
of Judge O'Connor's six years on the
Arizona state bench, " has not been
as extensive or challenging as that of
some other persons who might be
available for appointment to the Su-preme
Court of the United States."
The bar committee submitted
Judge O'Connor's judicial opinions
and published articles to a group of
eacticing lawyers and two groups of
w school professors.
" Those consulted expressed differ-ing
views concerning the strength of
her opinion writing," the report said,
adding that, because the cases in--
( See O'CONNOR'S, P. ISA)
Source of surplus
remains unknown
By David Bender
MIssoarian staff writer
Former Boone County Magis-trate
Court Judge Temple Mor- ge- tt
cannot figure out why county
administrators are worried about
an extra $ 17,000 and some four- year- o- ld
receipts.
Both County Auditor Deborah
Robison and Ken Geel, former
county auditor, had said they
were unable to determine the rea-son
for the surplus or audit Mor- gett- ' s
old books because records
weren't properly kept.
And tire auditors were right,
according to a Kansas City, Mo.,
auditing firm. Bob Spence, of
Peat, Marwick and Mitchell Co.,
told a County Court meeting
Tuesday the audit cant be fin-ished
because Morgett's 1977 re-ceipt
bocks are missing, along
with some 1978 receipts. Without
them, the source of the money
may remain a mystery.
" I really don't understand what
they're so shook up about," Mor-gett
said, adding that, " as far as I
know," the records were intact
when be left office.
He said the " overage" of mon-ey
indicates that none was mis-used.
He agreed, though, mat the
missing receipts might show that
more money should remain.
Morgett lost his re- electi- on bid
in 1978, and state law requires an
audit of outgoing officeholders.
His position was abolished in 1979
when the Circuit Court system
absorbed magistrate courts.
The receipts in question, which
recorded fees and bonds paid to
Morgett's court, apparently were
lost when records were shuffled
during remodeling of Boone
County Courthouse more than a
year ago, Morgett said.
Georganne Lanham, Morgett's
former chief clerk, said card-board
boxes of receipt books were
apparently mishandled then.
Early in 1979, after she had left
her post, she said she saw the
boxes " just strewn around, like
they had been accidentally 1
knocked over," while workmen I
finished the renovations. J
Because the receipt books are 1
missing, the complete audit re-- I
quired by law is virtually impos- - I
sible, Spence said. 1
Consequently, the county may j
never know where the $ 17,000 be-- I
longs, Southern District Judge 8
Kay Roberts said. The court B
agreed to ask the County Pros-ecutor
for a legal opinion of the
court's liability if someone should
claim the money.
" We want to know that we are
not responsible in any way, shape
or form," Roberts said. I